Current News

Although the REC has been heavily critical of the Government’s plans to withdraw the staff hire concession, other measures announced in yesterday’s Budget - in particular, with regards to skills and helping small businesses – have been welcomed by the industry. 

The REC had called on Chancellor Alistair Darling to ensure the Budget was geared towards lifting a fragile jobs market. This followed the latest REC/KPMG Report on Jobs which again highlighted that despite a drop in permanent staff appointments for the first time since May 2003, shortages of skilled candidates continued to be a key issue.  

Commenting on the Budget, Helen Reynolds, the REC’s acting Chief Executive Officer, said:  “We welcome the Chancellor’s recognition that small businesses are a key driver to growth and will be working with the Government to ensure that their commitment to 30 per cent of public contracts being won by small businesses becomes a reality.  

 “Small recruitment businesses have been badly hit by attempts to consolidate spending on agency staff.  The REC recognises that the public sector needs to demonstrate value for money – but the move to large over-arching contracts risk squeezing out smaller operators who are often a key route to employment in the communities in which they work.” 

In response to the Budget announcement relating to measures to help raise children out of poverty, REC Head of Policy Anne Fairweather says: “Extra money to help hard pressed families is only part of the solution.  New routes for moving from benefits into work are also a vital tool to tackle child poverty.  The REC is committed to maximising the impact of recruitment agencies in this equation.  Agencies play a vital stepping stone into work and also to advance careers once people have entered the workplace." 

Recruitment professionals are in a unique position to comment on current skills gaps and the industry has a key role to play within this extremely topical debate.

Commenting on the extra £60 million funding for skills, Tom Hadley, the REC's Director of External Relations: “We are delighted that more resources will be allocated to enhancing skills and employability. We need to make sure that we are building tomorrow’s workforce and that  the ongoing input of recruitment professionals is used to identify areas of current and future skills gaps. 

“The Chancellor’s indication that the environmental agenda will be a growing area of activity could have positive implication for recruiters. The possible creation of a whole new raft of ‘green’ jobs would require specialist and much sought-after skills in engineering, construction and design which agencies could play a key role in sourcing”.  

The full Budget Report revealed that the Treasury will be looking into travel expenses claimed by temporary workers.  On this specific issue, Helen Reynolds said: “We welcome the general consultative approach of the Treasury which focuses on seeking to understand existing structures before leaping in with new rules.  Temporary workers such as IT contractors and medical locums may travel large distances to share their specialist skills in a crisis.  We need to ensure that the use of these schemes is fully understood before action is considered.  REC will be consulting members to ensure that the Treasury receives a full picture of the use of such schemes.” 

The REC External Relations team and Legal Services team will be developing further analysis of how yesterday’s Budget will impact on the industry and on specific REC Sector Groups. Further information on this and on the staff hire concession will be made available to members over the next few days.